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I could only fit so much into the print story, which excluded things I kept in the on-line story (which I consider my official version) which excluded these last portions that I cut out and am now posting here.

One point I didn’t explicitly make in the piece: The Warriors set an NBA record with 73 regular-season victories, but if they couldn’t get past Oklahoma City with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook in that conference final, when would they ever get past the Thunder?

Because if the Thunder had won that series and moved onto the Finals vs. Cleveland:

-With the Thunder back in the Finals, Durant probably would’ve stayed at OKC whatever the outcome of a OKC-Cleveland series (he almost stayed even after the Thunder lost to the Warriors, remember);

-The Warriors probably would’ve had to re-sign Harrison Barnes at the max (or sign-and-trade him to a destination he preferred and they would’ve needed a small forward back) and Festus Ezeli at a decent number (or sign-and-trade him) and that would not have improved the roster;Continue Reading →

OAKLAND–As I explain at the end of the piece, nobody with the Warriors was surprised when Klay Thompson was the one player who delayed talking with me about his epic Game 6 performance against Oklahoma City one year ago.

Klay isn’t so much into detailed retrospection and searching for deeper meanings to long-ago events, at least not if he has another option, like to go out and play with his dog in the sun.

But over the weeks I was gathering interviews for this project, and mentioned to him that I would eventually need to talk to him about, you know, making an NBA playoff-record 11 three-pointers to save the Warriors’ season and change history, Thompson always said he would sit down to do this.

Let’s just say it up front: Chris Mullin is one of my favorite guys ever and probably the classiest person I’ve ever met in sports.

So it was tremendous to get to talk to him for this podcast episode, with the full landscape of his experience–as a Hall of Fame player with the Warriors, as the executive who built the “We Believe” team in 2007, and the full details of the great, mysterious, long-rumored almost-made trade for Kevin Garnett in June 2007.

Yes, the Kevin Garnett trade. Which was close enough for Mullin and Mitch Richmond to get on the phone with Garnett… and it go to owner Chris Cohan and right-hand man Robert Rowell… who vetoed it.

(File photo)
SAN ANTONIO–Mike Brown brought it up before last night’s game: Stephen Curry is not only excelling on offense in these playoffs, he is helping lead the Warriors defensively, too.

So I asked Curry about that after his six-steal effort in the Warriors’ Game 3 clobbering of the Spurs, to take a 3-0 series lead, and Curry offered a telling detail: Defensive coordinator Ron Adams challenged Curry to up his defensive level in these playoffs.

Which led me to this interview, after practice today, with… Adams himself, who had some very interesting things to say about Curry’s play recently and what the Warriors need from him as the postseason moves to a monster conclusion.

* I couldn’t fit everything I researched and wanted to put into this piece for the print edition a few days ago, so I’ll add the extra stuff to this blog-version. New material will be marked NEW MATERIAL, very catchy, I know…

-Are the Warriors better off now than they were a year ago?

Yes. The answer is yes, even though last February the Warriors were 51-5 through 56 games and well on their way to a record 73 victories, and now they are 47-9.

This guarantees nothing in the playoffs, but the Warriors are stronger than last season, more versatile, and better equipped to handle whatever is thrown at them in the postseason.

OK, yes, the simple reason for this is that they added Kevin Durant to the star-studded group that took a 3-1 lead in the Finals before losing Games 5, 6 and 7 to Cleveland.

But the Warriors’ run-up to the All-Star break has been more complicated than just that, the adjustments have been subtler, and all of it provides a sharp backdrop for the quest to win their second championship in three seasons.

Here are five important things we’ve learned about this group so far…

1. Everything still revolves around the Stephen Curry-Draymond Green dynamic.

–NEW: So far this season, the Warriors have the top six two-man units in the plus-minus stat, in this order, as reflected by Steve Kerr’s decision to split up Curry and Green much more than he did in the past two seasons…

–Curry-Klay Thompson at +11.6 per game;
–Curry-Durant at +11.5 per game;

–Curry-Green at +11.2 per game. (At an average of 28.3 minutes a game, down significantly from last season and it’ll go down more as the new rotation continues.)